


Pretty, pretty lemonman

by secreterces5



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: (not any actual transgender characters), Also idk what the ship should be called, Crossdressing, F/M, Fluff, I would kill everyone on this website and then myself, I’ve only had Lumpygrab for a day and a half, Lemongrab yELLING, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Post-Canon, Post-Finale, Post-Gum War, Transgender, accepting who we are, but I love it anyways, but if anything happened to them, but the topic is discussed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 05:58:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secreterces5/pseuds/secreterces5
Summary: Lemongrab wants to try on a dress. What would he look like?





	1. Like the Princess

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what this is, exactly. I didn’t write it to mention any gender identity topics, I just really wanted everyone to try and imagine this because I won’t get the thought out of my head otherwise. But as I kept writing, it got more complicated.  
> This is set during the episode “You made me” when PB attempts to teach (the original) Lemongrab how to rule peacefully.

“Why do you wear this?”

Princess Bubblegum sighed in slight annoyance and gently set down two small test-tubes to focus on a young lemon candy boy standing at her side. How he always managed to find her in her maze of laboratories was a mystery to her, but, after all, he was supposed to be smarter than her usual creations. She just wished she could have a small break from his threats and yelling. “What was that?” she asked Lemongrab while taking off her goggles.

He pointed at her pink dress, hidden partly by her lab coat and repeated the question: “Why do you wear the blanket and not the twin tunnels like I have to?”

“I’ve told you to call them pants, Lemongrab,” she reminded him. “And this isn’t a blanket. It’s a dress.”

“A dress…? Mmm, and why do you wear it?” he repeated for the third time.

Princess thought about that. “Well, because… dresses used to be reserved for the royalty only. It used to be a tradition for female royals to wear dresses exclusively, or so it was written in some of the old books I’ve recovered many years ago. I decided to establish my status using dresses as well, but I don’t always wear them, as you know. And nowadays, when I do, it’s mostly because I like them.”

“So if royalty wears this, and I’m a royal,” Lemongrab reasoned, “shouldn’t I be allowed this fashion luxury as well, Mother Princess?”

Bubblegum blinked a few times, processing the question. “B-but… males don’t wear dresses,” was the best argument she could think of. “Why would  _ you _ want to do so?”

Lemongrab pouted angrily. “Mother Princess! I demand a dress NOW!”

“You think just because you yell I’ll give you everything you want?”

“YEEEEEEEES?!”

“That’s not how it works, Lem-”

“That is uNACCEPTABLEEEEEEEEEEE–“

*

She sighed, opening the closet in which she kept most of her dresses. “Oookay, which one would you like? And remember, you can only pick  _ one _ . I’m not going to hand over my entire wardrobe because you decided to play dress up.”

The earl sneaked past her and entered, looking at each article of clothing carefully before picking one with a shorter skirt. Unlike most of her dresses, this one was plain white. It had a yellow felt flower stitched onto the right shoulder strap. “May I take this one, Mother Princess?”

She considered saying no just to spite him and see how he would react, but he had actually asked rather nicely and she wasn’t treating him as well as she’d wish these days due to lack of free time. Maybe she could allow him this little new whimsy of his, if it meant he would be in even a slightly better mood. So she nodded. “Yeah, Lemongrab. It’ll be yours,  _ if _ it fits you. How about you try it on?”

The lemonman’s eyes widened in eagerness and he hurried to undress and after some struggling and searching for the right hole to put his head through, he managed to put the dress on. She didn’t recall many times seeing him this excited about anything.

He took a few seconds to admire himself before turning to face Bubblegum. “I think, mmm… I understand you a bit more like this.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Do you get why you should rule the way I do?”

“No,” he said plainly, “but I understand why you like dresses. I like this dress, too.”

She smiled. This wasn’t much, but… “It’s a first step. And you do look good in it, Lemongrab. But be careful, it might feel rather odd to some people if you wore a dress in public.”

“I’ll wear it when I’m alone, then! Which is all of the time!”

Bubblegum honestly couldn’t tell if that was a sad or a happy revelation.


	2. Like a countess (well, an earlness, technically)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lemonsoft discovers the dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set somewhere in the times when both Lemongrabs were getting along. Can be read as a ship but doesn’t have to be.  
> Also, lemongrabs don’t know what to call a female earl because there has never been one.

Lemonsoft carefully spread out the white piece of fabric he had found in his and Lemongrab’s shared wardrobe. It was unfamiliar to him, but he had seen numerous creatures wearing this, so he assumed it to be a clothing article. But why would Lemongrab have this? He never wore it… maybe he used it as a blanket? Or a rag? But he wasn’t supposed to clean, their servants did that!

After a while of wondering about it, he decided to just ask his partner. After all, Lemongrab  _ is  _ the older one. He will probably know what this is used for, considering it was on his shelf in their wardrobe.

Upon seeing the white fabric in Lemonsoft’s hands, Lemongrab went silent for a while, staring at it. The younger lemonman stared back. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Lemongrab said: “It’s a gift.”

“From Mother Princess?”

“Yes, once, but not anymore. From me. For you.”

“Oh.” That didn’t happen often. “Why?”

Lemongrab smiled just a little. That was also rare, although if what the younger earl heard from Finn the Human while he last visited them, it has been happening more often ever since Lemonsoft came to exist. “I liked the dress. Maybe you’ll like the dress. If not, we can sentence it to ten years of dungeon.”

“Or return it to Mother Princess,” he suggested gently. But he wasn’t really planning on returning it. It seemed nice.

*

It also  _ felt  _ nice, as Lemonsoft realized once he put it on. He was a bit thinner than Lemongrab, so the dress seemed baggy, but it didn’t bother the earl. He looked at himself in the mirror and chuckled sheepishly.

He called out to his partner to come and see. Once the older Lemongrab stepped in, he stopped and his eyes widened.

Lemonsoft looked himself over worriedly. “Is the dress wrong? Am I wearing it wrong?”

“You are wearing it perfectly. It’s, mmm, incomparable with anything else.” There was silent awe in his voice. It could easily be overlooked, but Lemonsoft knew it was there, and it made him feel special.

His glee was somewhat spoiled by Lemongrab’s next words.

“But do not wear it outside. Mother Princess says people judge.”

“That is unacceptable! Maybe I will make them stop judging! I will just step outside and say, that I am now the… mmm… the…?”

“The Earlness of Lemongrab?” Lemongrab offered.

“Yes, yes! I will become the earlness and you will be the earl and no more judging!” Lemonsoft went on and his smile grew bigger. He was so excited he approached Lemongrab and hugged him tightly. “We won’t be judged and the earldom will be happy!”

His older lemonmate, usually not very open to physical touch, smiled and nuzzled him. “I already am happy. I have you.”

“And I have you!” the other giggled. “I can always wear the dress inside, can’t I? Even if I don’t become an earlness?”

“An earl or an earlness, dress or not, I am happy with you. And if you are happy with you in the dress, wear the dress.”

Lemonsoft wouldn’t let go of the piece of clothing for a very long time after that.


	3. Like his girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LSP drags Lemongrab along for a shopping spree and they end up trying on dresses. Spoiler: They look amazing as all heck. Also this is so sweet it’s sickening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set some time after the finale, long enough for a shopping mall to be built and opened.

“Oh. My. Glob! This place is, like, gigantic!” Lemon Space Princess yelled excitedly as she and Lemongrab met at the entrance of the new Candy Kingdom Mall. They were initially supposed to go with Finn, Jake and Lady Rainicorn, but LSP got too excited and rushed ahead, and the two brothers and the unicorn had a short break to go fight some monster, so Lemongrab decided to go by himself and catch up to his girlfriend. Once he arrived, she girlfriend had the whole place investigated thoroughly and knew exactly where she wanted to take him and wouldn’t shut up about all the shops she had found.

It’s something their friends considered them a “power couple” for – each one could listen to the other talk for extremely long periods of time, and then the other would listen. Whether they were complaining about a family member or bragging about their day, the other would sit quietly because they knew that they can talk for two hours next.

Since Lemongrab really only got dragged along for this trip, he simply accompanied Lemon Space Princess wherever she wished to go. They had smaller, but equally efficient shops in his home, and he didn’t see the appeal of buying same things in a different place.

After visiting a pet shop, a jewellery store and three(!) candy shops, LSP determined the final stop to be a boutique.

“I mean, the Twin Candy Kingdoms Celebration Ball is getting pretty lumpin’ close, and I wanna look so good it freaks everyone out,” she explained while wandering through the lanes of clothes. Every few seconds she would stop to examine something she took interest in, and her boyfriend decided that since he was already here, he could as well look around himself. He was thinking of getting himself a new uniform as well as some new casual clothes, anyway.

“Hey, babe, what about this one?” she spoke up at one point, turning to him with a dress on a hanger. The dress was a dark blue with tiny white beads sewn onto the lower part of its skirt and it took on a slightly lighter shade of blue around the waist. “I think it looks a-ma-zing,” she punctuated.

Lemongrab stared at the dress for longer than he originally wished to. “It does,” he mumbled, oddly mesmerized by it.

LSP smirked at the way he watched it. “What, are you that excited by the image of me in that dress? I mean, who wouldn’t be, really. Or do you wanna try it on yourself?” she asked teasingly, but her smile froze on her lips when Lemongrab asked in an unusually soft voice: “Could I?”

“What, try it on?”

“Y-yes?”

She didn’t answer right away. The question left her a little baffled, but eventually she somewhat recollected herself, shrugged and grabbed a different size of the same dress, handing it over to him. “Sure, we can both try it on.”

*

Once she was in a fitting room by herself, Lumpy Space Princess had to wonder what this thing Lemongrab just did could’ve meant. Was he joking? Did he want to look like her? Like, who wouldn’t, but this was weird. Maybe he was into dressing up? What was going on???

She caught the sight of herself in the big mirror covering one wall of the fitting room and was taken aback by how much weirded out she looked. Come on, she shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quick, she’s better than that! And so, she sucked in a breath, threw on the dress and stepped out of the small booth, saying: “How’s it going with that dress, LG? Wanna show your girlfriend how fabulous it is?”

There was silence at first, and then a small “I do not want others to see.”

_ Shyness? Well, I don’t get to see  _ that _ very often, _ she thought to herself. “That’s fine, babe, if you don’t wanna. Can I see, though? I’m real curious now,” she admitted truthfully.

“You may.”

And so, she slipped behind the drape covering the front of the fitting room. She found Lemongrab watching himself in the mirror with the dress on. With eyes of a true fashion expert that she considered herself to be, she looked him over head to toes a few times. The fabric was a little loose around his chest, since it was after all meant for a female, but the tight medium-long sleeves held it up by his shoulders nicely. It had low-cut back, but not enough to be too dramatic. The lighter shade of blue hugged his waist and sides nicely, it seemed like a ring of fog floating around him, adding something she would call “a mysteriousness”. From there, it flowed down in smooth, vertical waves and made Lemongrab look as though he was standing on the ocean’s surface. This was accented by the white and silver beads on the rim, imitating sparkling drops of water.

“Huh,” she hummed after a thorough and detailed inspection, “you do actually work it in this. I might have probs gone with different colours, but it’s not bad.”

“Mmmm… you think so?” Lemongrab asked with arms awkwardly folded onto his chest and a very blatantly nervous tone in his voice.

LSP took one more glance at him – alert, unsure, vulnerable, but trusting her enough to show her something he obviously didn’t want anyone to know about – and she suddenly felt the urge to give him a hug and comfort her bittersweet and pretty lemonman forever. Instead, she slowly took his hand and looked at them both in the mirror. “Duh,” she smiled. “We both look fantastic and that’s a fact, babe.”

She could see him getting calmer, eventually smiling and nodding. “Of course. It is a fact.”


	4. Like the Earl of Lemongrab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Bubblegum’s aunt Lolly finished building her Candy Kingdom and officially announces this by inviting everyone who means something to a Twin Candy Kingdoms Celebration Ball. LSP plans on asking her Lemongrab out so they can go together and she gets to show off her hottie of a boyfriend a little, but before she can do so, she simply has to ask about the dressing up thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything Lemongrab is told in this chapter is a message for all of you as well!

“Hey, Lemongrab? Can I ask you something?” LSP spoke up after a rather calm date in a beautiful park that has been newly open in the eraldom. It was actually Bubblegum’s idea, she argued that if Lemongrab gives his subjects more free time and places to hang out, it will boost morale. It turned out that she was right, it made his people happier and LSP seemed to like it as well, so they have been spending a lot of time there.

“Of course,” he answered absent-mindedly, content with just sitting under one of the lemon trees (what other kind would they be, really?) with her and watching the clouds go by.

“It’s, like, kinda serious.”

This caught his attention. They did have serious conversations, but after some time, they realized they sometimes didn’t notice, so they agreed to warn each other if they thought the topic could make them uncomfortable. There was  _ a lot _ of uncomfortable topics. “Alright, go ahead.”

“‘Kay.” LSP took a deep breath and then blurted out: “Are you trans?”

At first, Lemongrab stared at her with a blank expression. Then, he hesitantly said: “Trans? I don’t think I’m in a trans. What an odd question.”

She got confused for a full second before realization hit her. “Did PB not tell you what that means?”

“Does it mean something else?”

“Well duh! Trans not in like, being put in trans by my hypnotic body, but trans in like transgender – it basically means that you were born one gender but you feel like you should’ve been the other one. So, like, you try to talk before punching your friend in the face instead of just doing it, you play with dolls instead of swords, you… like… wear dresses…”

“Oh,” Lemongrab caught on. “This is about the dress, is it not? About the dress I wanted to try on?”

“Yeah, kinda.” He ended up not buying it, to her surprise. Although he advised her to buy it because she looked really good in it according to him, at which she felt very flattered and agreed to get the dress for herself. She had been wondering about the incident ever since though – she wanted to know if this was just an oddity or if it went deeper. She didn’t want herself to sound like she hated him for it either way, though, so she turned to him and said: “I just wanted to ask about it, because if you do feel as though you should’ve been a lemongurl and not a lemonguy, you can just ask Bubblegum to make you that way, y’know? There’s no reason to keep it to yourself or something like that.”

“I don’t wish to be recreated by Mother Princess yet again,” he shook his head with a frown. “No more being reborn, please.”

“Yeah, I get that. Still, LG, you don’t have to prove it to anyone that you feel like a girl. I’m just sayin’ you don’t have to be ashamed of that, and you can trust me to not tattle.” For once, she meant it, even though she sometimes gossiped with other princesses about her boyfriend and theirs as well. It was normal, but she knew when to stop herself from bragging out anything more.

“A–and if I do feel that I should be a different gender, what would that make  _ you  _ feel like?” he asked after some consideration of her words.

She took her time to think about his query. “Well… I think I could still date you. It wouldn’t be easy getting used to it tbh, I always kinda considered myself a guy person exclusively, you know? But,” she laid against his shoulder and squeezed his hand, “I love you for being you, so if being Lemongrab means being a girl, I could love a girl Lemongrab.”

“Mmm.” He squeezed her hand as well. “That’s acceptable. I love you for being you, too.”

A dark purple blush spread over her face almost immediately. Boy did it feel good to hear that. “Thank you.”

“And thank you.”

Then, only chirping of various lemon creatures and animals coming from different parts of Ooo to inhabit the earldom’s nature was heard. Two children ran along the path at one point, giggling and throwing a ball back and forth. The clouds in the sky above them morphed into new shapes, but that wasn’t too significant. The sky was still there, after all.

“So,” LSP mumbled when the silence lasted too long for her taste, “ _ are  _ you actually transgender? We kind of didn’t get to any conclusion.”

“I… mmm… I don’t think so. I do like wearing dresses, but otherwise, I just feel like Lemongrab.” And he did. He heard the two voices of his predecessors talking over each other in his mind, the muttering of other creatures he was made of, he felt the numb pain on his skin in places where Mother Princess stitched it together, and sometimes he felt like if he ate too much, he could tear at the seams and fall apart. But here, holding onto LSP’s hand for support and a reminder of him being fine and being real and being alive, he felt like it all was him. All of the things he was, it was just Lemongrab in the end.  _ I feel like me. _

“Hey!” she looked at him somewhat scoldingly. “You’re not  _ just _ Lemongrab! You are,” she whispered dramatically, “ _ the _ Lemongrab, my amazing boyfriend, an earl, and besides all that a pretty hot guy who can work a dress! Oooh, that reminds me,” she floated up off the ground and pulled him up with her, “I left a gift for you back in the castle, wanna see?”

“Is it a dress?” he inquired after a short contemplation.

“No guessing!” she exclaimed, “you’re ruining it!”

And so he just let her lead him back to his castle, letting go of her hand once they were inside so she could bring him a medium-sized flat box. “I thought you looked absolutely lumpin’ fab, you know,” she admitted. “So I searched for something that might suit you, and I hope I’ve found that.” Lumpy Space Princess handed him the box and let him open it. Inside was a dress, just as he anticipated.

“I’m going to try it on,” he said without hesitance.

“You– you sure?”

“It’s a gift from you. I trust your judgement, and I like dresses. Therefore, I am sure,” he concluded and marched into his living quarters. He emerged again a few minutes after in a lime green dress and the sight of him left LSP awestruck.

The dress had two different-sized stripes of fake little crystal shards running across his chest and together with two shoulder straps on one shoulder they lightly resembled a sash. One more crystal stripe was circling his hips, complimenting his slim silhouette. The asymmetry of the stripes made the whole town seem lively, moving of it’s own accord, changing in a blink of an eye. Other than that, it was simple enough, made of chiffon and silk, with a short but noticeable train on the lower rim.

“This is wondrous,” Lemongrab avowed and twirled around to see the dress lift off the ground for a split second. “It feels unearthly!”

The longer LSP was staring, the longer she wanted to stare.  _ Glob has gifted me with this wonderful sweetheart and I’m gonna protect him at all costs. _

“I must thank you for such a gift with something equally astounding!” her boyfriend said in a determined voice, but she shook her head: “Nah, I love it on you and that’s a gift enough. But, like, if you wanna, we can go to the TCKC ball together?”

Her eyes widened in surprise as she received an excited kiss. It left a half-sour, half-sweet taste on her lips and was followed by a loud “yes! Of course, we must go together!”

Lemon Space Princess made a mental note to come back to that kiss later, but for now she only had one question left to ask: “And what are you going to wear?”

*

“Mmnnn, are you certain that I can do this? According to Mother Princess, others say things–”

“Hey, wanna know how I’ll be introducing you the who’s time? ‘ _ This _ is my boyfriend Lemongrab. He’s cute, he’s smart, he’s brave,  _ and _ – in case ya’ll haven’t noticed – he wears this dress better than any of  _ these _ lumpin’ lumps!’ Who cares what others have to say?! They’re jealous because we look totes delicious! Uh, like, beautiful delicious, not edible delicious–”

“I understood, LSP.”

“Good! Than you also understand that you look hot and I love and appreciate you!”

“I do.”

“Great! Then let’s go partaaaay!” She grabbed his arm and entered the ballroom of a newly constructed castle that Lolly (these days her name was usually accompanied by the title “princess”) resided in.

A candy person announced their names and a few faces turned to look and consequently stare. Lemongrab took half a step back, but LSP held onto him. “You look great, babe,” she whispered and lead him away from the entrance and away from the curious looks to go and meet some familiar people.

Their first encounter was Finn. LSP called to him and after he noticed them, he headed to them with a smile. On his hand was a shiny new metal arm, undoubtedly created by Princess Bubblegum, and he was wearing a formal attire that LSP didn’t recall ever seeing him in before.

“Hey there LSP, you look great tonight,” he greeted her eagerly and then paused to take in Lemongrab’s outfit. “And wow, Lemongrab, you look math in a dress! Who’s idea was that?”

“Would you believe if I told you,” LSP said with pride, “that it was actually his idea? I just made him wear it for the ball.”

“Well good call,” the boy gave them a thumbs up. “You both look dazzledashing!” Then, they both heard Jake calling to Finn from somewhere across the ballroom, so he excused himself and with a hasty “good to see you tonight” left to search for his brother.

“See? He liked it!” LSP said, but when she turned around, Lemongrab was wearing the most mesmerized face she had ever seen.

“He did,” he mumbled softly.

They had later received a similar reaction from many others, including Flame Princess, some members of the band playing live music at the event and quite a few people they didn’t even  _ know _ .

But there was one person Lemongrab really longed to see while wearing the dress, and LSP knew this. And so, after a while of good fun, she brought it up. “Hey, how about we go meet Bubblegum now?”

“Y-yeah,” he nodded.

“You really want her to see, huh?”

“I think so.”

“Well, here we go,” Lemon Space Princess puffed out her chest and together, they approached the princess in one corner of the ballroom, speaking with Lolly, Marceline the Vampire Queen at Bubblegum’s side.

LSP was actually kind of worried what Bubblegum would say. Technically, she was Lemongrab’s mom, what if she says LSP is a bad influence or something? What if she blames her and says that cheering Lemongrab on was wrong? But before she could change her mind, her boyfriend was already addressing Bubblegum.

“Greetings, Mother Princess!”

“Oh, Lemongrab, hel–” Bubblegum turned to fully look at him and the tone of her voice changed completely over the course of milliseconds. “Oh? What… what is the meaning of this?” She sounded more confused than completely disgusted, so that was a relief.

“Woah,” Marceline whistled at the sight, “girl, your boyfriend looks dazzling tonight! What happened?”

Before LSP could answer, Lemongrab let go of her arm and stepped forward to Bubblegum. “Mother Princess, I assume you remember the first time you saw this,” he gestured to himself, and she nodded. She knew what he was referring to. “You asked my predecessor then why he would feel the need to wear a dress, and I now know why I wear it: it makes me feel royal and intangible, and I swear I will not cause a scene by only wearing it, but I ask that you accept me with this and understand why I hold affection towards this.”

Bubblegum seemed to have lost her voice. The sight of him in a dress was so unreal, and she wanted to worry for his reputation, for his dignity, for his well-being, but then Marceline took her hand and she saw Lumpy Space Princess do the same and all of her worries silenced down.  _ He will be fine. He’s himself and that’s who he should be. _ And so, she smiled kindly and with fondness, saying gently: “I do accept you. You are beautiful and loved, and I’m proud of you, Lemongrab.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, a review would be very appreciated, I think the characters are kinda OOC but honestly I’m posting this at 5 am so I don’t have the physical ability to care thank you bye


End file.
